c 

Clr  X. 


OBERLIN  COLLEGE. 


DEDICATION 


PETERS  HALL. 

January  26,  1887. 


ORATION: 

The  Essentials  of  a College, 

Ex-Chancellor  E.  B.  FAIRFIELD. 


Published  By  tlie  College. 


OBERLIN,  OHIO: 

NEWS  OFFICE  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINT. 

1887. 


‘‘ 


Reprinted  from  the  Advance  of  May  12,  1887. 


Oberlin  College. 


By  President  Jas.  H.  Fairchild. 


With  the  opening  of  our  second  half-century , we  find  ourselves  in  the 
midst  of  building  enterprises  not  planned  or  contemplated  at  the  time  of  our 
semi-centennial  anniversary,  in  1883.  Six  new  buildings  have  arisen  on  the 
college  grounds  since  that  jubilee  celebration,  and  in  addition  the  college 
chapel  has  been  improved  by  the  addition  of  a new  front,  with  tower  and 
clock  and  bell  and  organ.  Five  of  these  new  buildings  are  of  the  brown 
sandstone  quarried  in  the  neighborhood,  and  all  are  pleasing  in  their  archi- 
tecture and  commodious  in  their  arrangements.  Older  buildings,  which  had 
served  their  generation,  have  given  place  to  these,  and  others  still  must  be 
retired  in  due  time.  Thus,  in  a brief  period,  the  outward  aspect  of  our 
college  has  greatly  changed.  It  would  have  been  pleasant,  for  the  sake  of 
old  memories,  to  retain  at  least  a portion  of  the  older  buildings,  sacred  in  the 
associations  of  so  many  generations  of  students.  But  when  a building  ceases 
to  be  useful,  it  is  better,  at  least  it  is  necessary,  that  it  should  give  place  to 
others.  No  college  can  afford  to  transform  its  grounds  into  a historical 
museum.  A few  years  more,  and  the  new  buildings  will  be  enriched  with 
associations  as  precious  as  the  old,  and  the  improved  accommodations  will 
all  be  gain. 

The  new  buildings,  in  the  order  of  their  appearance,  are:  Sturges  Hall, 
a brick  building  of  two  stories,  the  first  story  presenting  a beautiful  assem- 
bly-room for  the  general  gatherings  of  the  ladies]  department,  and  the  sec- 
ond affording  commodious  rooms  for  the  two  ladies’  literary  societies  of  the 
college;  Warner  Hall,  of  stone,  three  stories  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  Con- 
servatory of  Music,  with  two  wings  still  to  be  added;  Spear  Library,  of  stone, 
two  stories,  the  first  devoted  temporarily  to  the  museum  of  natural  history, 
with  its  lecture-room  and  biological  laboratory,  and  the  second  to  the  libraries 
of  the  college  and  of  the  literary  societies,  admirably  adapted  to  its  uses, 
essentially  a fire-proof  building;  Peters  Hall,  the  largest  of  all  our  buildings, 
the  first  and  second  stories  given  up  to  recitation  and  lecture-rooms,  with  a 
spacious  central  court  opening  up  through  the  two  stories,  and  separating 
these  lecture-rooms  so  that  there  is  no  communication  of  sound  from  one  to 
the  other.  Eighteen  rooms  in  all  surround  this  court,  above  and  below.  In 
the  third  story  there  are  three  fine  rooms  for  the  literary  societies  of  the  col- 
lege, and  an  auditorium  for  the  general  uses  of  the  college,  seating  five 
hundred  persons.  Altogether,  Peters  Hall  is  one  of  the  finest  buildings  for 
college  purposes  to  be  found  in  the  land. 

The  burning  of  our  Ladies’  Hall , in  January,  1886,  brought  a new  need, 
and  two  fine  stone  buildings  now  occupy  the  ground,  Baldwin  Cottage  and 
Talcott  Rail,  the  first  affording  rooms  lor  thirty  or  more  young  women,  to 
be  occupied  in  April;  the  second,  with  rooms  for  twice  as  many,  to  be  opened 
probably  in  September.  The  buildings,  as  far  as  completed,  are  satisfactor- 
ily warmed  and  ventilated,  and  pleasantly  furnished,  in  striking  contrast 


with  most  of  the  rooms  which  have  served  the  purposes  of  the  college  during 
the  past  fifty  years.  If  the  outcome  for  the  next  fifty  years  shall  be  richer  in 
proportion  to  the  improved  facilities,  it  will  be  occasion  of  great  satisfac- 
tion. On  the  cornei  so  long  occupied  by  President  Finney,  there  is  room 
for  another  college  building,  to  complete  a row  of  five,  four  of  which  are 
already  in  place.  Mr.  F.  N.  Finney,  of  Milwaukee,  has  purchased  this  corner 
and  given  it  to  the  college,  and  proposes  to  erect  upon  it  a college  building 
which  shall  bear  his  father’s  name.  When  completed,  this  row,  extending 
along  the  west  side  of  Professor  Street,  a distance  of  eighty-four  rods,  and 
overlooking  the  college  park,  will  present  a very  pleasing  array  of  college 
architecture . 

The  new  buildings  as  now  completed  and  in  progress,  involve  an  expendi- 
ture of  more  than  a quarter  of  a million  of  dollars,  mostly  given  by  the 
persons  whose  names  they  bear.  If  the  trustees  had  been  advised  with,  they 
would  doubtless  have  preferred  that  a portion  of  these  gifts  should  have  gone 
to  endowment  investments;  but  they  could  not  decline  a gift  so  desirable  as 
a needed  building.  The  older  buildings  of  the  college,  seven  in  number,  all 
of  brick  except  a gymnasium,  are  still  very  useful,  and  will  serve  to  keep  in 
remembrance  the  earlier  years — not  the  earliest,  because  the  first  generation 
of  buildings,  except  Tappan  Hall  and  the  chemical  laboratory,  were  all  of 
wood  and  have  long  since  disappeared.  Our  new  buildings  belong  to  the 
third  generation,  and,  unless  some  catastrophe  befalls  them,  it  is  scarcely 
conceivable  that  they  can  ever  need  to  be  replaced  by  others. 

Yet  we  have  wants  in  the  way  of  buildings  still  to  be  provided  for.  The 
present  chemical  laboratory,  an  old  schoolhouse,  crowding  hard  upon  Peters 
Hall,  must  soon  be  retired.  The  two  gymnasiums  are  inadequate  to  the  de- 
mands made  upon  them,  and  gymnastic  exercises  are  becoming  indispensa- 
ble to  a large  and  increasing  number  of  our  students.  The  rooms  in  our 
new  library  building  devoted  to  the  museum  of  natural  science,  lecture-room 
and  biological  laboratory,  are  already  too  strait,  and  we  are  hopefully  wait- 
ing for  a building  devoted  exclusively  to  natural  science.  Future  years  may 
bring  the  need  of  a new  art  building,  but  for  the  present  we  are  provided 
with  pleasant  rooms  for  instruction  in  art,  and  there  are  large  wall -spaces 
in  Our  buildings  where  works  of  art  may  be  appropriately  exhibited.  A 
large  picture  of  John  Brown,  of  Ossawatomie,  leaving  his  prison  for  the  gal- 
lows, the  gift  of  the  artist,  Mr,  Louis  Ransom,  of  Akron,  0.,  has  been  re- 
cently placed  in  the  court  of  Peters  Hall,  waiting  only  for  a suitable  frame. 

Radical  as  Oberlin  has  been  supposed  to  be  in  its  origin  and  its  history, 
it  has  maintained  a decidedly  conservative  position  in  its  educational  ideas 
and  work.  New  studies  and  methods  have  been  hospitably  entertained  and 
introduced,  from  time  to  time,  as  they  have  proved  their  claim;  but  while 
many  colleges  East  and  West  have  adopted  courses  leading  to  a degree, 
without  Greek  and  with  little  Latin,  to  this  day  no  one  has  graduated  at 
Oberlin  without  such  attainments  in  both  these  languages  as  have  been 
required  in  the  leading  American  colleges.  Certificates  and  diplomas  have 
been  granted  in  other  courses,  but  no  degree.  The  next  commencement  will 
probably  witness  a new  departure  in  this  respect.  The  degree  of  Ph.  B. 
will  probably  be  granted  for  a coarse  in  which  French  and  German  take  the 
place  of  Greek.  Our  courses  have  been  enriched,  within  the  last  few  years, 
with  a generous  supply  of  electives,  open  to  the  student  after  the  Freshman 
year.  These  electives  are  gathered  about  a line  of  required  study  extending 
through  the  entire  course,  and  constituting  its  spinal  column.  Contrary  to 
the  traditional  order  in  the  land,  Hebrew  has  been  made  elective  in  the 
.seminary.  At  the  same  time  a year’s  study  of  the  Hebrew  has  been  made 
•elective  in  the  college  course.  The  aim  is  to  get  a better  result  in  the 
study — not  less  Hebrew,  but  more. 

Very  prominent  among  the  electives  are  the  modern  languages  and  the 
natural  sciences,  especially  in  connection  with  laboratory  work.  Labora- 
tories of  chemistry,  of  mineralogy,  of  physics,  and  of  biology  are  estab- 


lished,  in  which  the  student  does  practical  work  for  himself  under  the  eye 
of  the  professor.  These  arrangements  have  ail  appeared  within  the  last  ten 
years,  and  have  proved  very  attractive  and  apparently  helpful. 

Better  buildings  and  increased  advantages  in  other  rsspects  suggest  the 
danger  of  increased  expense  to  the  student,  and  the  exclusion  of  some  who 
have  ability  and  worth,  but  little  money.  Wf  hope  to  guard  this  point 
with  jealous  care.  It  would  be  a sad  departure  from  the  history  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  college,  to  permit  such  a calamity  to  befall  us;  for  it  would  be 
a calamity  more  disastrous  than  the  loss  of  buildings  or  endowments.  To 
provide  against  the  disaster,  college  fees  are  kept  at  ten  dollars  a term, 
and  a boarding  house  is  maintained  without  charge  for  rent,  where  young 
men  can  find  comfortable  board  at  two  dollars  a week,  and  young  women 
board  and  room  for  the  same  amount.  Some  provision  has  been  made,  and 
more  is  needed,  to  help  worthy  students  by  means  of  scholarship  endow- 
ments, so  that  with  limited  aid  a course  of  study  is  made  possible  where 
otherwise  it  would  be  impossible.  This  fund  at  present  amounts  to  nearly 
$30,000,  the  interest  of  which  is  thus  applied.  In  addition  we  have  a tuition 
fund  furnishing  three  dollars  a term  to  nearly  a hundred  students.  This 
help  is  very  slight,  but  it  is  often  most  welcome,  and  five  times  the  amount 
could  be  used  to  great  advantage. 

But  the  point  of  greatest  interest  is  the  maintenance  of  the  spirit  of  ear- 
nest work  and  purpose  which  has  characterized  the  school  and  the  commu- 
nity from  the  early  years.  Will  improved  buildings  and  enlarged  resources 
and  extended  facilities  tend  to  induce  a change  in  the  spirit  and  aim  of  teach- 
ers and  pupils?  Will  a purely  intellectual  spirit — the  pursuit  and  inculca- 
tion of  knowledge  as  an  end  rather  than  a means,  creep  in  upon  us,  until 
we  lose  sight  of  the  true  aim  of  a Christian  school?  Will  there  be  a chang’e 
in  the  character  of  the  students  drawn  to  us,  to  the  extent  that  the  public 
sentiment  shall  be  changed,  and  a secular  and  worldly  spirit  take  the  place 
of  earnest  Christian  purpose?  The  answer  to  these  questions  lies  in  the 
future.  Thus  far  we  have  abundant  cause  for  gratitude  in  the  results 
attained.  The  present  does  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  the  past 
There  are  cases  of  disappointment,  as  there  have  always  been ; but  the  great 
body  of  our  students  have  shown  themselves  worthy  of  the  improved  advan- 
tages offered  them.  There  has  probably  never  been  a time  in  the  history 
of  the  college  when  Christian  sentiment  among  the  students  was  more 
pervading,  or  when  there  was  a larger  proportion  of  earnest  souls  looking 
reward  to  self-denying  service  for  God  and  for  mankind.  That  this  may 
be  our  permanent  possession,  is  our  hope  and  prayer. 


During  the  past  year  1322  students  have  been  connected  with  the  various 
departments,  nearly  one  half  coming  from  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Ohio,  and 
representing  fifty-seven  States,  Territories,  and  foreign  countries.  The  Fall 
term  of  1887  opens  on  September  13th,  and  the  Winter  term  of  1888  on  Jan- 
uary 3d.  A catalogue  will  be  sent  to  any  address,  or  other  information  given 
on  application  to  the  Treasurer  of  Oberlin  College. 


Editorial  frorq  The  Advance. 


The  joint  founders  of  Oberlin  College  were  two  comparatively  young 
men  from  Vermont,  Rev.  John  J.  Shipherd  and  Mr.  Philo  P.  Stewart. 
Neither  of  them  had  been  to  any  college.  There  was  something  of  the  pro- 
phetic instinct  and  strain  about  them.  They  had  talked  and  prayed  over 
what  seemed  to  them  to  be  the  supreme  want  of  the  world,  especially  that  of 
the  “Mississippi  Valley.”  ‘ ‘Something must  be  done.”  This  “something” 


they  undertook.  They  knew  the  voice  of  God,  though  they  did  not  know 
whither  it  would  lead  them.  Most  of  the  original  colonists  also  came  from 
Vermont.  College  and  colony  were  identical  in  their  origin;  the  same  bap- 
tism and  the  same  nurture  were  for  both.  They  have  never  grown  apart. 
Neither  would  have  been  possible  without  the  other.  On  the  whole,  this  is 
the  most  distinctly  original  educational  institution  that  has  been  established 
in  this  country.  In  its  earlier  years  no  institution  was  ever  more  absurdly 
misunderstood.  The  prejudices  which  prevailed  against  it  now  seem  simply 
incredible.  The  glory  of  Oberlin  has  been,  and  is,  as  much  in  her  daughters 
as  in  her  sons.  It  was  the.  first  college  in  the  world  to  give  the  same  educa- 
tional advantages  to  young  women  as  to  young  men.  The  year  1833  dates  a 
new  epoch  for  women.  There  is  nothing  more  noteworthy  about  Oberlin 
than  that.  Innumerable  were  the  women  whose  souls  at  that  time  were  be- 
ginning to  ache,  because  of  the  unnatural  educational  restrictions  imposed 
upon  them.  When  the  doors  of  this  college  opened  alike  to  men  andwomen, 
it  may  be  said  to  have  set  ajar  a door  on  golden  hinges  turning  toward  the 
light  for  the  women  of  all  the  world.  In  the  very  first  class  half  of  them 
were  women;  now  more  than  half.  From  the  beginning,  as  the  event  has 
proved,  Oberlin  has  been  radically  and  progressively  right  on  all  the  great 
main  questions  which  have  agitated  the  country.  Oberlin  had  its  birth  in 
1833;  its  second  birth  in  1835,  in  that  remarkable  accession  from  Lane  Sem- 
inary, and  especially  in  the  coming  to  it  of  President  Finney.  Mr.  Finney 
did  perhaps  his  most  important  work  for  Oberlin  before  Oberlin  had  been 
thought  of,  by  means  of  that  mighty  evangelistic  movement,  which,  under 
God,  he  had  been  instrumental  in  starting  in  New  York,  New  England  and 
Old  England.  The  providential  hand  of  God  is  as  clearly  to  be  seen  in  Ober- 
lin’s  history  as  in  that  of  the  children  of  Israel.  No  intelligent  history  can 
be  written  of  the  Anti-slavery  struggle  and  of  the  way  the  Nation  was  saved 
to  freedom,  which  does  not  make  large  account  of  the  moral  and  spiritual 
forces  which  both  centered  at  and  radiated  from  Oberlin.  There  is  some- 
thing positively  amazing  in  the  reproductive  fruitfulness  of  this  institution. 
Not  only  Secretary  Strieby,  but  the  American  Missionary  Association  itself 
was  the  off-spring  of  Oberlin.  A remarkably  large  proportion  of  the  teach- 
ers in  the  schools  of  the  Association  in  the  South,  were  those  who  got  their 
education  and  their  inspiration  there.  A score  of  Christian  colleges  in  the 
Northwest,  in  the  Southwest  and  South,  gratefully  date  their  genesis  from 
the  same  fruitful  source.  Oberlin  College,  though  it  puts  on  no  airs  about  it, 
and  would  be  the  last  to  claim  it,  is  in  fact  growing  into  a university.  It 
has,  at  length,  as  President  Fairchild  shows  in  his  article,  attained  to  its 
“building  era.”  Said  one  of  the  earliest  graduates,  and  he  spoke  for  the 
rest:  “I  have  but  one  rule  to  live  by;  the  will  of  God.”  Will  the  institu- 
tion be  able  to  endure  prosperity,  without  detriment  to  this  mighty  spirit  of 
consecration  which  gave  to  it  that  which  has  made  it  so  vital  and  so  valua- 
ble? Doubtless  there  are  those  who  fear.  But  as  Professsor,  now  Secretary, 
Judson  Smith  said  some  four  years  ago,  “We  have  our  fight  to  fight  as  well 
as  they.”  Assuredly,  Oberlin  could  have  no  more  excuse  now,  than  it  would 
have  had  then,  should  it  stumble  blindly  and  dawdle  listlessly  over  the  pend- 
ing and  insurgent  issues  of  to-day.  Happy  the  men — and  the  women,  too— 
who,  in  whatever  way,  help  to  make  and  to  keep  such  colleges  true  to  their 
highest  ideals. 


OBERLIN  COLLEGE. 


DEDICATION 

OF 

PETERS  HALL. 

January  26,  1887. 


ORATION: 

The  Essentials  of  a College, 

Ex-Chancellor  E.  B.  FAIRFIELD. 


Publislied  By  tlie  College. 


OBERLIN,  OHIO: 

NEWS  OFFICE  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINT. 

188T. 


Peters  Hall. 

OBERLIN  COEEEGE. 


This  spacious  hall,  pronounced  by  competent  judges  the  most  perfect 
college  building  in  the  United  States,  was  dedicated  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
Twenty-sixth  op  January,  1887.  President  Fairchild  presided,  Professor 
Churchill  offered  the  invocation,  and  the  Dedicatory  Prayer  was  by  Rev. 
James  Brand. 

Choice  selections  were  rendered  by  the  Musical  Union. 

At  five  o’clock  the  donors,  the  faculty,  and  some  nine  hundred  invited 
guests,  repaired  to  the  Hall  and  spent  a social  hour,  followed  by  refresh- 
ments and  congratulatory  remarks. 

General  Nettleton  presided  here  and  called  out  happy  responses  from 
Professor  Ellis,  Rev.  Anson  Smythe,  Hon.  F.  C.  Sessions,  Dr.  L.  C.  Warner, 
and  Mr.  A.  S.  Root.  Rev.  R.  G.  Hutchins  received  hearty  applause  on  men- 
tioning a new  gymnasium  as  a necessity  for  the  near  future,  and  Mr.  J.  G. 
W.  Cowles  in  behalf  of  the  Trustees,  reminded  the  company  that  the  fine 
buildings  and  ample  facilities  now  enjoyed  would  not  make  the  college  rich, 
but  poor,  unless  speedily  re-enforced  by  increased  endowment. 

The  History  of  the  Building,  the  report  of  the  Building  Committee,  and 
the  Oration  by  Ex-Chancellor  Fairfield  upon  The  Essentials  of  a College , 
are  given  in  the  following  pages. 

Note. — A fine  crayon  portrait  of  Captain  Bradley,  who  began  the  build- 
ing, was  presented  by  his  family,  and  an  oil  painting  of  Mr.  Peters,  by 
Orchardson,  of  Chicago,  has  since  been  hung  in  the  central  court. 


history  of  the  Building. 


BY  PROFESSOR  C.  G.  FAIRCHILD. 

*N  these  days  of  the  study  of  heredity,  the  true  history  of  a 
man,  especially  if  one  is  asked  to  give  this  history  on  the  day 
of  his  birth,  begins  with  the  history  of  his  grandfather.  Col- 
lege halls  have  transmitted  tendencies,  a real  sort  of  personality. 
In  fact  Peters  Hall  has  taken  into  its  being  the  very  frame-work  of 
its  predecessor,  and  like  blood  corpuscles,  the  red  bricks  of  Tappan 
Hall  have  permeated  every  part  of  this  new  generation  of  building. 

The  pilgrims  to  Oberlin  fifty-three  years  ago,  as  they  wound 
their  way  through  the  almost  trackless  forest,  came  at  last  to  a 
small  wooden  structure,  about  thirty- five  by  forty  in  its  dimen- 
sions, two  stories  in  height,  but  surmounted  by  a sort  of  attic 
formed  by  raising  the  central  part  of  the  roof  a little  above  the 
main  roof,  that  a row  of  windows  might  be  inserted.  This  one 
building  contained,  for  more  than  a year,  the  college  with  all  its 
operations — physical,  mental  and  moral.  In  a basement  room 
about  fifteen  feet  square,  lived  Mr.  Shipherd  with  all  his  family. 
The  room  above  was  his  office,  the  center  of  all  business  for  the 
college  and  colony.  It  also  served  as  a study  for  the  Principal  of 
the  school.  Across  the  hall  or  corridor  was  the  dining-room,  and 
above  was  the  school-room,  chapel  and  church — all  in  one.  Here 
were  first  heard  the  voices  of  Mahan  and  Finney  and  Morgan.  It 
was  a room  perhaps  eighteen  feet  by  thirty-five,  about  half  the 
size  of  the  larger  lecture  rooms  in  the  hall  we  dedicate  to-day. 
The  young  women  were  closely  quartered  in  this  second  story  over 
against  the  chapel,  while  the  young  men  were  sent  to  the  attic. 
H^re  each  couple  of  young  men  found  a room  eight  feet  square,  fur- 
nished with  a stove,  table,  two  chairs  and  a bedstead.  This  furni- 
ture occupied  the  whole  area  of  the  room;  but  the  bedstead  was 
made  to  tilt  up  against  the  wall  during  the  day,  and  then  there 


4 


DEDICATION"  OE  PETERS  HALL. 


was  space  to  spare.  In  this  attic,  the  students  being  seated  in  the 
doorways,  so  that  they  could  look  up  and  down  the  narrow  passage, 
was  organized  the  first  of  our  college  societies. 

The  next  of  kin  to  Peters  Hall,  and  its  immediate  predecessor, 
was  Tappan  Hall — commenced  in  1835  and  finished  in  1836.  It 
was  a plain  parallelopiped  of  brick,  one  hundred  and  twelve  feet 
in  length,  forty-two  feet  in  breadth,  and  four  stories  in  height. 
The  square  windows,  in  long  rows  on  either  side,  were  uniformly 
interspaced  with  nearly  equal  areas  of  brick;  the  long  quarter-pitch 
roof,  with  a gable  at  each  end,  was  surmounted  at  the  center  with 
a square  wooden  tower.  Originally  there  was  built  upon  this 
primary  tower,  a similar,  though  smaller,  secondary  tower.  But 
this  presented  too  great  a leverage  for  the  west  winds  and  was 
removed.  Father  Shipherd,  too,  favored  the  removal  as  bringing 
the  building  more  nearly,  as  he  expressed  it,  “to  the  pattern  showm 
in  the  Mount.'” 

A hall  eight  feet  wide,  ran  lengthwise  through  each  of  the 
stories.  On  the  first  floor  there  was  a cross  hall  at  the  center  of 
the  building  and  four  double-door  entries  were  located,  one  at  each 
end  of  these  halls.  The  height  of  stories  from  floor  to  ceiling  was 
eight  and  one-quarter  feet.  The  larger  recitation  rooms  were 
in  the  four  corners  of  the  lower  story.  For  many  years  the  main 
north  and  south  walk  through  the  park  passed  through  this 
building,  the  long  central  corridor  forming  a section  of  the  walk, 
and  the  monotony  of  recitation  was  relieved  by  the  trundling  of 
wheelbarrows  and  the  rolling  of  baby  wagons.  The  building 
provided  rooms  for  about  ninety  young^hlen.  ‘‘These  rooms,” 
writes  the  President  in  his  history,  “were  strikingly  simple  and 
uniform  in  their  arrangements,  being  each  sixteen  feet  by  eight, 
with  a door  at  one  end  and  a window  at  the  other.  In  one  corner 
near  the  door  was  an  open  wardrobe  and  in  the  other  a narrow 
bedstead.  In  a corner  by  the  window  was  a stove,  and  on  the 
other  side  of  the  window  a table.  This  was  the  ultimate  idea  for 
the  time,  of  comfort  and  convenience  in  a college  dormitory,  not 
only  in  Oberlin  but  in  the  country  generally.  Those  were  the 
favored  ones  who  could  establish  a claim  upon  Tappan  Hall.” 

P~~~~ fcThe  glory  of  those  days  has  been  handed  down  by  tradition. 
The  elder  brethren  among  us  have  not  alwa}rs  seemed  to  relish 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


0 


the  occasional  slighting  remarks  made  in  late  years  about  this 
structure.  Let  us  take  heed  and  seize  our  full  measure  of  enjoy- 
ment in  Peters  Hall  before  our  children  come  forward  with  their 
suggestions.  Tappan  Hall,  in  the  early  days,  was  the  great  college 
building  of  the  West  and  it  was  a much  greater  building  to  the 
Oberlin  of  1836  and  the  surrounding  towns,  than  is  Peters  Hall  to 
the  Oberlin  of  1887,  and  to  the  cities  that  have  grown  up  in 
Northern  Ohio  in  the  last  half  century. 

But  the  building  lacked  proper  footing  stones,  and  cracked 
and  seamed  in  many  directions,  it  was  felt  for  a score  of  years 
that  its  removal  was  only  a question  of  time,  and  funds  to  replace 
it  were  sought  in  various  directions.  Nearly  five  years  ago  it  was 
almost  decided  to  start  a popular  subscription  for  a building  to  be 
erected  in*  the  center  of  the  Park,  the  building  to  provide  not  sim- 
ply lecture  rooms,  but  space  for  library,  museum,  art  gallery,  etc. 
President  Fairchild  and  Professor  Ellis  went  as  a committee  to 
study  the  various  college  buildings,  especially  at  the  East.  But 
the  financial  stress  in  every  direction  was  something  appalling, 
and  men  shrunk  from  the  long  and  hazardous  struggle..  It  was 
deemed  wise  to  see  if  individual  donors  might  not  be  found  who 
would,  one  by  one,  care  for  the  building  necessities. 

Over  half  a century  ago  two  farmer  boys,  Alva  Bradley  and 
James  Fairchild,  attended  together  the  same  district  school  in  the 
neighboring  \illage  of  Brownhelm.  These  boys  sat  under  the 
same  teacher,,  but  they  were  cherishing  different  ideas.  The  one 
wrote  upon  the  sill  beam  in  his  father's  cellar,  “Commenced  Latin 
this  day,  July  l*2th,  1830.’’  The  other  would  lie  for  hours  upon 
the  Lake  shore,  watching  the  distant  sails  in  their  slow  passage, 
and  picturing  to  himself  the  remote  possibility  of  some  day  being 
a master  of  a vessel.  So  the  ways  of  the  boys  parted.  The  one 
followed  the  line  of  scholastic  training.  The  other,  with  his 
worldly  possessions  in  a bundle,  shipped  as  a common  sailor  and 
lived  to  see  himself  first  master  of  a vessel,  and  then  the  million- 
aire owner  of  a noble  fleet.  That  these  parted  ways  might  be 
made  to  reunite  in  these  latter  years  was  of  course  a natural  sug- 
gestion, and  some  three  years  ago  President  Fairchild  in  a letter 
laid  before  Captain  Bradley  this  special  building  need  of  Oberlin 
College.  The  proposition  was  not  wholly  rejected,  and  some 


6 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


months  later  Captain  Bradley  cautiously  suggested  that  perhaps 
some  architect  might  be  found  who,  on  the  chance  of  getting  a 
job,  might  prepare  some  plans  and  these  might  help  to  interest 
some  man  able  to  furnish  the  money.  The  hint  was  sufficient, 
and  plans  were  soon  provided.  But  the  lake  business  was 
wretched,  and  Captain  Bradley  waited  until  January,  1885,  when 
he  said  he  would  give  $20,000  that  year,  if  the  college  would  en- 
close the  main  part  of  the  building.  The  work  was  entered  upon. 
The  walls  of  Tappan  Hall  were  razed  to  the  ground  just  fifty 
years  from  the  time  their  foundations  were  laid.  By  November 
1st  the  walls  of  the  new  structure  were  completed,  and  Captain 
Bradley  had  paid  his  $20,000.  We  then  rested,  not  unwilling  if 
the  business  of  the  coming  year  should  at  all  justify  it,  that  Cap- 
tain Bradley  should  go  forward  with  the  work.  But  while  we 
stood  with  our  hospitable  doors  wide  open,  and  not  unhopeful, 
other  gates  were  unbarred,  and  after  a brief  illness,  Captain  Brad- 
ley passed  away  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age. 

There  rises  vividly  before  some  of  us  the  somewhat  bent  form 
and  clear-cut  features  of  this  remarkable  man.  His  hands  showed 
the  labor  and  exposure  of  earlier  years.  He  possessed  a most 
attractive  eye,  clear,  observant  and  kindly.  Attentive  to  the 
thoughts  of  others,  and  painstaking  in  searching  out  facts  from 
every  source,  his  ultimate  judgment  was  clear  and  definite.  He 
was  thoroughly  self-reliant,  though  modest  and  retiring  almost  to 
the  point  of  diffidence  in  the  presence  of  company.  His  early 
education  was  meager  and  his  book-keeping  was  of  the  simplest 
kind.  He  could  not  easily  delegate  to  another,  even  routine  work. 
Yet  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  business  man  in  Cleveland  held  his 
affairs  with  a firmer  gnisp.  Large  contracts,  like  the  building  of 
a steamboat,  were  entered  into  without  a word  of  written  specifi- 
cations or  a scrap  of  paper  to  show  that  any  such  contract  existed. 
Yet  the  outcome  was  just  and  satisfactory  to  all  parties.  He  would 
half  apologize  for  this  and  say  it  was  not  business-like.  Integrity, 
the  basic  quantity  of  character,  must  have  been  absolute  and 
unswerving  to  have  made  such  direct,  simplicity  of  dealing  possi- 
ble. Oh,  that  our  newspapers,  that  scour  the  globe  for 
every  pestilential  germ  of  corrupt  character,  might  oftener  call 
our  attention  to  such  men  as  these!  There  is  an  inspiration  far 


DEDICATION  OP  PETERS  HALL. 


7 


loftier  than  that  awakened  by  any  lines  of  beauty  carved  upon 
marble,  to  see  human  fidelity  thus  stand  forth  undraped  by  any 
forms  of  law  and  half  abashed  at  being  discovered.  Captain 
Bradley  was  especially  reticent  in  his  business  affairs.  His  most 
intimate  friend  and  partner  in  many  large  transactions,  was  accus- 
tomed to  say  that  when  the  Captain  was  unusually  quiet,  he 
expected  in  time  to  discover  some  especially  important  work  of 
his  in  some  unusual  place.  He  evidently  enjoyed  working  in  this 
way.  He  never  saw  the  rising  walls  of  the  new  building  but  once, 
and  then  he  came  without  warning,  and  would  only  stay  the  hour 
and  a half  between  trains.  It  would  not  be  uncongenial  to  him 
to  have  his  work  in  this  great  enterprise  be  like  the  unyielding 
footing  stones  of  the  new  structure,  half-hidden  from  human 
sight.  He  recognized,  especially  in  later  years,  that  the  instinct 
of  accumulation  was  strong  upon  him;  but  he  also  comprehended 
the  beneficence  of  wisely  conducted  business  enterprises.  His 
hands  were  opened  in  a hundred  kindly  deeds,  and  he  held  himself 
accessible  to  the  higher  claims  of  society.  He  saw  with  more 
than  usual  distinctness  the  limitations  of  those  about  him,  but  his 
judgment  was  always  charitable.  In  the  intercourse  of  years  one 
would  not  hear  a word  that  might  not  be  repeated  anywhere.  He 
was,  in  the  highest  sense,  a gentleman.  Pardon  these  words  if 
they  seem  too  many.  They  are  inspired  by  the  respect  and  affec- 
tion of  a somewhat  intimate  acquaintance.  And  the  world 
possesses  nothing  of  higher  value  than  a concrete  example  of  the 
truth,  that  not  unscrupulous  shrewdness  and  noisy  activity,  but 
integrity,  careful  study,  self-reliance  and  a kindly  disposition  form 
the  basis  of  even  a very  unusual  financial  success.  It  is  very 
pleasant  for  us  all  to  welcome  in  our  midst  to-day  Mrs.  Bradley, 
and  the  son,  Morris  A.  Bradley,  testifying  by  their  presence,  as 
they  have  frequently  done  by  word,  their  sympathy  wiih  the 
work  of  husband  and  father. 

It  was  of  course  necessary  that  all  plans  about  this  building 
be  recast,  and  the  burning  of  Ladies1  Hall  added  greatly  to  the 
distraction  of  the  situation.  Weary  weeks  followed,  lightened 
only  by  the  feeblest  hopes,  and  burdened  with  efforts  that  were 
utterlj7  fruitless.  Among  the  many  friends  thought  of  were  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  R.  Gr.  Peters,  of  Manistee,  Michigan.  They  had  already 


8 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


given  $5,000  to  one  professorship,  and  there  was  the  impression 
that  in  due  time  they  might  do  much  more.  But  it  was  hardly 
felt  that  in  the  very  midst  of  incomplete  business  enterprises  of 
the  largest  magnitude,  Mr.  Peters  would  see  his  way  clear  to  take 
this  load  upon  him.  Still,  Professor  Frost,  who  had  preached 
one  summer  to  the  church  in  Manistee,  felt  some  courage,  and 
was  commissioned  to  lay  our  cause  before  Mr.  Peters.  In  two 
days  there  came  back  this  somewhat  enigmatical  message:  “With 
Giod  all  things  are  possible.  The  pine  forests  are  His.  Arthur 
Tappan  still  lives.  Captain  Bradley’s  work  completed.”  When 
this  was  read  at  chapel  prayers  the  best  prophet  among  us  failed  to 
interpret  it  correctly — but  mistakes  are  nothing,  and  joy  is  un- 
bounded when  some  headland  appears  to  the  shipwrecked  mariner. 
The  burst  of  enthusiastic  applause  from  a thousand  young  hands 
but  faintly  echoed  the  feeling  of  those  on  whom  the  burden  rested. 
The  work  on  the  building  was  then  joyously  as  well  as  rapidly 
pushed  forward  under  the  general  superintendence  of  Professor 
Ellis,  who,  as  chairman  of  all  our  building  committees,  has  shown 
such  tireless  vigilance  in  this  remarkable  building  era  of  Oberlin 
College. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peters  and  other  friends  are  with  us  to-day,, 
without  whom  we  should  hardly  feel  that  we  could  dedicate  this 
new  structure  to  its  uses.  It  is  now  a quarter  of  a century  since- 
Mr.  Peters  was  in  Oberlin  preparing  for  life  in  our  Preparatory 
Department.  Here,  we  understand,  he  studied  arithmetic  under 
Professor  Ellis,  and  the  quality  of  that  teaching  must  have  been 
something  remarkable.  We  are  informed  that  Mr.  Peters  has 
thereby  figured  out  a great  fortune  from  the  pine  trees  of  Michi- 
gan; that  he  has  been  his  own  engineer  in  laying  out  his  railroad; 
that  he  has  figured  out  large  benefactions  for  Manistee,  Chicago^ 
Seminary  and  Olivet  College,  and  that  it  required  but  fifteen 
minutes  to  figure  out  $50,000  for  Oberlin  College.  But  Oberlin 
gave  him  a better  thing  than  even  such  arithmetic — one  of  her 
daughters,  to  be  a worthy  help-meet  in  every  high  and  noble  pur- 
pose: a woman  at  the  front  of  everv  effort  in  behalf  of  temperance 
and  Christian  culture.  We  know  this  in  Oberlin,  for  have  we  not 
sent  literature  from  our  homes  for  the  lumbermen  of  Michigan,, 
and  money  to  forward  temperance  work  among  them?  And  Mr. 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


9 


Peters  will  need  her  aid.  We  are  informed  that  “Arthur  Tappan 
still  lives,”  which  means  that  Peters  is  to  take  the  place  of  the 
name  that  has  been  upon  our  lips  for  fifty  years,  and  which  has 
been  more  valuable  to  us  than  the  building  which  brought  the 
name.  This  responsibility,  though  unsought  and  perhaps  dreaded, 
cannot  be  escaped,  and  it  is  a glad  indication  of  the  age  in  which 
we  live  and  of  the  work  which  Oberlin  College  has  done  for  the 
world,  that  we  expect  two  of  you  to  share  this  burden  equally. 
We  proudly,  as  well  as  gratefully,  welcome  you  to  the  ranks,  not 
simply  of  the  Tappans,  but  of  the  Warners  and  Spears,  the 
Baldwins  and  the  Talcotts,  who,  in  the  vigor  of  life,  have  thrown 
themselves  with  the  full  force  of  their  financial,  as  well  as  other 
strength,  into  the  problems  of  the  generation.  And  we  want, 
all  of  us,  teachers,  students  and  citizens,  to  stand  with  you  in  these 
ranks  to-day,  and  in  the  presence  of  this  noble  structure,  to  dedi- 
cate ourselves  anew  to  the  up-building  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
upon  the  earth. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  address  Professor  Ellis  presented  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Peters  to  the  audience,  and  they  were  greeted  with  hearty  applause.  Mr. 
Peters  made  a few  well  chosen  remarks  upon  the  value  of  an  education,  and 
for  the  encouragement  of  students  who  were  “making  their  own  way,” 
which  were  highly  appreciated. 


Report  of  the  Buildipg  Conmnttee. 

BY  PROFESSOR  J.  M.  ELLIS. 

At  a meeting  of  the  Prudential  Committee  March  3,  1885,  it 
was  voted  that  J,  B.  T.  Marsh,  J.  M.  Ellis,  and  R.  Hatch  be 
appointed  a building  committee  for  the  new  Recitation  Hall. 
Messrs.  Weary  and  Kramer,  architects,  together  with  different 
members  of  the  Faculty,  had  already  been  engaged  upon  plans 
for  some  time.  These  were  completed  and  accepted,  and  on  April 
20, 1885,  a contract  was  made  with  Messrs.  Doerzbach  and  Decker 
to  erect  the  building  and  finish  all  but  the  west  wing  by  May  1, 
1887. 

Work  was  commenced  at  once  and  has  been  pushed  as  fast 
as  materials  would  allow.  After  the  generous  donation  by  Mr. 
Peters,  it  was  decided  to  finish  the  whole  building,  and  this  has 


10 


DEDICATION  OP  PETERS  HALL. 


dow  been  done,  four  months  earlier  than  called  for  by  the  con- 
tract. The  only  part  remaining  unfinished  is  the  astronomical 
tower,  which  waits  the  gift  of  $10,000  to  furnish  a revolving 
dome  and  an  eighteen-foot  telescope. 

The  work  of  the  contractors  has  been  performed  with  con- 
scientious fidelity  throughout.  From  foundation  to  capstone,  the 
committee  believe,  every  stone  and  timber  and  door  and  casting- 
will  bear  inspection,  and  will  be  found  to  be  as  well  executed  as 
care  and  skill  could  make  them. 

The  heating  and  ventilating  apparatus  has  been  put  in  by 
Isaac  D.  Smead  & Company,  of  Toledo,  including  their  system  of 
dry  closets.  Four  large  shafts  carry  up  the  foul  air  from  the 
bottoms  of  the  rooms,  and  warm  fresh  air  is  furnished  by  nine 
Rutan-Smead  furnaces,  set  in  five  groups.  The  air  in  the  recita- 
tion rooms  can  be  changed  in  twenty  minutes. 

The  2500  feet  of  blackboards  have  been  put  in  by  Mr.  Lyon 
after  his  most  improved  methods. 

The  building  is  being  seated  by  A,  H.  Andrews  & Co.,  Chicago. 

The  building  in  its  extreme  dimensions  is  130  by  142  feet, 
three  stories  of  14  feet  in  height,  besides  a nine-foot  basement. 
It  contains  13  recitation  rooms  varying  in  size  from  20  by  25  to 
30  by  45;  a ladies’  waiting  room,  and  faculty  room,  five  professors’ 
studies,  three  large  rooms  for  physical  laboratories  and  apparatus; 
three  ample  rooms  for  college  societies,  each  provided  with  a com- 
mittee room  and  closets;  a large  audience  room  on  the  third  floor 
with  a capacity  for  500  or  more;  an  astronomer’s  room,  telescope 
room,  janitor’s  quarters,  an  entrance  court  40  by  50  feet,  with  the 
grand  stairway  and  corridor  reaching  rooms  on  upper  floors. 

The  basement,  besides  furnace,  fuel  and  cold  air  rooms,  fur- 
nishes two  large  apartments  for  physical  laboratories,  two  for  dry 
closets,  a workshop  and  store  rooms.  A freight  elevator  leads  from 
the  basement  to  the  attic.  Besides  the  telescope  tower,  20  feet 
in  diameter,  with  walls  two  feet  thick,  a large  deck  on  the  top  of 
the  building,  easily  accessible,  furnishes  a place  for  study  of  the 
geography  of  the  heavens  by  an  entire  class.  The  aim  has  been 
to  make  the  building  ample  and  complete  in  all  its  provisions,  and 
every  part  as  perfect  and  permanent  in  structure  as  possible. 

The  cost  of  the  work  thus  far,  exclusive  of  furniture,  and 


DEDICATION'  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


11 


some  extra  work  not  yet  completed,  is  $68,000.  The  committee 
take  pleasure  in  reporting  to  the  officers  of  the  College,  and  to 
the  donors,  whose  generous  aid  has  rendered  the  work  possible, 
that  Peters  Hall  is  complete  and  ready  for  its  uses. 


j 


FIRST  FLOOR  OF  PETERS  HALL. 

A — Prof.  Ellis,  Mental  Philosophy  and  Logic.  B — Prof,  Monroe,  Politi- 
cal Economy  and  History.  C — Study.  D — Prof.  Hall,  Latin  and  Greek. 
E — Ladies’ Waiting  Room  and  Study.  F — Faculty  Room.  G — Prof.  King, 
Mathematics.  H — Mrs.  Johnston,  History  and  Botany.  I — Vestibule.  K — 
Study.  L — North  Vestibule.  M. — Prof.  Shurtleff,  College  Latin.  N — 
Tutor  Peck,  Preparatory  Greek.  LL — Grand  Central  Court. 

The  second  floor  is  like  the  first,  having  a broad  balcony  or  corridor 
around  the  court,  except  that  the  rooms  above  G and  H are  thrown  together 
into  a semi-circular  hall  for  the  department  of  Elocution — Prof.  Chamberlain. 

Over  A,  B and  D is  the  Department  of  Physics,  Prof.  Churchill;  over  E, 
Preparatory  Latin,  Tutor  Martin;  over  F,  Modern  Languages,  Prof.  Newton; 
over  M,  College  Greek,  Prof.  Frost;  over  N,  Senior  Prep.  Greek,  Prof.  White. 

The  Third  Floor  contains  Bradley  Auditorium  in  the  center,  above  the 
court,  and  apartments  for  <f>.  K.  IT.  Society  in  the  east,  $.  A.  in  the  west,  and 
A.  Z.  in  the  north  wing. 


She  Essentials  of  a College. 


BY  EX-CHAXCELLOB  E.  B.  FAIRFIELD, 

OF  MANISTEE,  MICH. 

Mr.  President  and  Friends : 

My  discourse  to  you  at  this  hour  is  of  the  Essentials  of  a Col- 
lege: and  incidentally  of  the  manner  and  degree  in  which  this 
college  has  succeeded  in  meeting  the  true  ideal. 

My  purpose  will  be  to  present  the  subject  fairly  and  without 
any  undue  bias  of  filial  or  friendly  partiality;  and,  if  such  a 
discussion  shall  seem  to  be  in  any  measure  an  exaltation  of  Ober- 
lin,  as  compared  with  any  other  college,  it  will  not  be  the  fault  of 
the  speaker;  and  certainly  it  will  not  be  the  fault  of  the  college. 

A college  is  for  the  higher  education  of  men  and  women. 
And  the  first  prime  essential  is  that  there  should  be  the  true 
conception  of  what  the  education  of  a human  being  consists  in. 

A failure  here  is  fundamental  and  fatal.  A training  school 
for  donkeys  ought  to  have  reference  to  the  nature,  capacity  and 
design  of  the  donkey.  It  ought  to  be  organized  with  due  regard 
to  the  endowments  and  possibilities  of  the  donkey  nature.  A 
method  of  training  that  should  take  no  account  of  the  animal’s 
eyes,  or  ears,  or  nerves,  but  only  of  his  bones  and  muscles,  would 
be  condemned  as  defective  even  by  every  donkey-boy  in  Egypt. 

On  the  other  hand,  one  that  should  contemplate  teaching  the 
animal  Elocution,  the  laws  of  ^Esthetics,  the  principles  of  Moral 
Philosophy,  the  nature  of  a future  life,  or  the  pros  and  cons  of  a 
future  probation,  would  be  rejected  by  every  wise  economist  as,  to 
say  the  least,  a somewhat  wasteful  outlay  of  time  and  money. 

Pardon  the  simplicity  of  my  illustration.  For  I want  to  make 
it  so  simple  that  it  can  be  taken  in  by  any  professor  in  any  uni- 
versity between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific — that  the  capacity  of 
any  being  is  the  exact  measure  of  the  provisions  that  should  be 
made  for  the  education  of  that  being. 

As  a man  has  two  arms,  and  but  two,  3rour  apparatus  in  the 
gymnasium  need  not  provide  for  three:  but  it  must  provide  for 
two.  Training  of  the  intellect  must  recognize  all  the  faculties  of 
the  intellect.  Training  of  the  complete  human  being  must  take 
into  account  every  department  of  his  nature.  The  young  men 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


13 


and  women  in  college  are  endowed  with  a moral  and  spiritual 
nature;  and  any  true  education  must  take  knowledge  of  that  fact. 

If  any  man,  calling  himself  an  educator,  feels  constrained  by 
the  circumstances  of  his  environment,  to  ignore  the  highest  depart- 
ments of  the  soul’s  being — paying  no  regard  to  the  most  royal  en- 
dowments of  the  young  men  and  women  committed  to  his  charge; 
or  above  all,  if  he  tells  me  that  in  following  his  own  judgment  he 
is  not  called  to  recognize  in  education  either  morals  or  religion — 
then  he  has  mistaken  his  calling;  he  has  no  right  to  be  in  that  busi- 
ness. As  one  claiming  to  be  an  educator  of  men  and  women  it  would 
not  be  undue  severity  to  label  him  an  impostor,  or  a charlatan. 

A conductor  of  a gymnasium,  who  should  practice  tying  up 
the  right  arm  of  every  boy  committed  to  his  charge,  year  after 
year,  until  that  arm  should  become  enervated  and  useless — at  the 
same  time  announcing  himself  as  a Master  of  Arts  in  physical 
training;  or  the  teacher  of  logic  who  should  declare  that  it  was 
his  business  simply  to  hear  his  pupils  recite  the  mnemonic  lines, 
“Barbara,  Celarent,  Darii,  Ferioque,  prioris,”  etc.,  and  to  pay  no 
attention  to  the  exercise  of  their  reasoning  faculties — neither  of 
these  would  be  any  more  of  a fraud  than  the  educator  of  a human 
being  who  ignores  the  very  endowments  of  the  spirit  which  made 
him  human. 

Education  must  touch  the  man  at  every  point — from  the  low- 
est to  the  highest,  from  the  physical  to  the  moral  and  the  spiritual. 
It  is  bad  enough  to  ignore  the  former;  it  is  a capital  crime  to 
neglect  the  latter. 

And  at  that  very  period  of  life,  too,  when  character  is  becom- 
ing established!  Character — character — more  than  anything  else 
the  whole  end  and  aim  of  all  true  education.  It  isn’t  of  half  as 
much  consequence  what  one  knows  when  he  comes  to  graduation 
from  college,  as  what  manner  of  man  he  is.  Give  us  true  lnan- 
hood  and  true  womanhood  first,  and  the  best  measures  of  mental 
discipline  and  of  liberal  learning  afterwards. 

The  fewer  college  graduates  of  the  type  of  Aaron  Burr  the 
better — the  better  for  the  country  and  the  better  for  the  world. 
The  ideal  education  is  that  which  gives  us  ideal  men— ^in  every 
walk  and  sphere  of  life.  And  such  are  the  men  whose  goodness  is 
fhe  crown  of  their  greatness. 


14 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


But  more:  Even  intellectual  culture  is  maimed  and  halt  and 
blind  if  it  stops  short  of  the  ethical  and  spiritual.  Nothing  any- 
where— in  any  department  of  science  or  philosophy,  is  learned 
thoroughly — that  is,  through  and  through — without  teaching 
God.  There  is  no  high  thinking  that  doesn’t  touch  Heaven. 
There  is  no  striking  bottom  anywhere  without  finding  an  Infinite 
Personality.  There  is  no  scientific  inquiry  that  ever  runs  back  to 
first  principles  without  demanding  that  there  should  be  a Great 
First  Cause.  “In  the  beginning,  God!”  is  the  last  milestone  set  up 
on  every  highway  which  the  foot  of  man  can  possibly  retrace. 
“Proto-plasm  and  bio-plasm  differentiated”  are  the  words  in  the 
mouths  of  many  men,  who  are  ready  to  say  in  their  hearts,  “No 
God;”  but  if  you  press  to  know  how  and  why  this  particular 
proto-plasm  became  bio- plasm,  and  the  other  not;  or  why  this  bio- 
plasm was  differentiated  into  a whale,  and  that  into  an  elephant, 
and  the  other  into  a crow — atheistic  evolution  is  dumb,  and  must 
be.  The  only  possible  answer  is,  “In  the  beginning,  God.” 

Or  if  the  student  turns  in  upon  his  own  soul,  he  finds  that  he 
is  himself  a subject  of  obligation*  and  this  means  moral  govern- 
ment; and  a Moral  Governor.  And  how  should  this  Moral 
Governor  be  treated?  is  a question  he  is  compelled  to  ask;  and 
constrained  to  answer.  He  cannot  by  any  possibility  comprehend 
Mental  Philosophy  without  finding  God  as  the  absolute  and  un- 
conditioned. He  cannot  know  himself  without  finding  that  God 
is  the  Father  of  our  Spirits,  and  the  Governor  of  Souls. 

And  must  not  a College  teach  the  sciences?  and'  teach  them 
clear  through?  Must  it  not  teach  Philosophy — and  teach  it  from 
beginning  to  end?  Must  not  every  college  teach  Ethics,  and 
teach  it  from  bottom  to  top? 

If  any  college,  or  university,  so-called,  (especially  any  univer- 
sity) may  not  teach  God’s  existence — a necessary  scientific  and 
philosophical  truth  as  it  is — if  it  may  not  teach  morals,  and  God’s 
rulership  as  a necessarily  implied  truth  in  every  science  of  morals 
— then  for  one  I deny  its  right  to  exist,  and  call  itself  a college. 

And  I know  of  nothing  that  it  can  teach  in  a thorough  and 
scientific  way  without  involving  first  or  last  fundamental  religious 
truth.  For  God  has  not  anywhere  left  himself  without  a witness. 
The  rocks  give  him  their  testimony.  The  heavens  declare  the 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


15 


Divine  glory.  Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night 
showeth  knowledge  of  Him;  that  which  may  be  known  of  God  is 
manifest  to  all  men;  for  the  invisible  things  of  Him  from  the  cre- 
ation of  the  world,  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things 
which  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  “Godhead.” 

The  student  of  the  things  which  are  made  must  see — unless 
he  shut  his  eyes — these  marks  of  God’s  handwriting.  Woe  then 
to  the  college  professor  who  puts  out  the  eyes  of  his  students  just 
when  they  most  need  the  clearest  vision! 

I might  press  this  point  farther;  and  show  that  no  one  can 
fairly  and  honestly  teach  even  History  in  a college  curriculum 
without  recognizing  the  Christian  religion  as  the  most  stubborn 
and  controlling  fact  of  history  to  be  found  in  all  the  ages.  And 
so  a college  education  in  a Christian  country  can  scarce  pretend 
to  any  reasonable  completeness,  if  it  does  not  embrace  the  study 
of  Christian  Evidences. 

There  can  be  no  true  religion  which  is  not  Theistic.  This 
ought  to  be  understood.  Agnosticism  is  unscientific.  Atheism 
is  idiocy.  Only  the  fool  hath  ever  said,  th  ere  is  no  God. 

Christianity  is  not  a religion — one  of  ten  or  more!  It  is  the 
true  religion.  To  us  it  has  been  made  known.  Nations  that  sit 
in  darkness,  to  whom  this  light  has  not  come,  must  give  their 
youth  the  best  education  they  can  in  respect  to  religion  as  in 
respect  to  other  things.  Just  as  they  must  teach  them  less  of 
Astronomy,  and  of  Electricity,  and  of  Magnetism,  if  they  know 
less  than  we  do:  so  must  they  of  morals,  and  religion.  They  can 
do  no  more  than  dispense  the  light  which  has  come  to  them.  But 
in  a Christian  land  only  the  education  which  is  Christian  deserves 
the  name.  We  would  better  far  be  fifty  years  behind  the  times  in 
our  teaching  of  science,  than  2000  years  behind  the  times  in  our 
teaching  of  the  true  morals  and  the  true  religion. 

Is  it  not  a marvelous  fact  that  nations  dominated  by  false 
religions — religions  full  of  superstition  and  absurdity,  religions 
degrading  to  the  intellect,  debasing  to  the  morals,  corrupting  to 
public  and  private  virtue,  religions  full  of  all  unrighteousness, 
lasciviousness,  malignity  and  murder — make  the  teaching  of  their 
religion  the  great  feature  in  all  their  systems  of  education ; while 
among  us,  with  a religion  that  teaches  only  purity  and  right- 


16 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


eousness,  that  inculcates  every  thing  that  is  noble,  and  true,  and 
just,  and  lovely,  and  of  good  report,  everything  that  contributes 
to  good  government  and  good  society — the  most  persistent 
efforts,  and  in  so  many  cases  successful  efforts,  are  made  to  abso- 
lutely shut  out  the  teaching  of  it  from  every  school,  high  or  low, 
with  which  the  State  has  anything  to  do? 

What  does  this  mean,  except  that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
are  still  under  the  dominion  of  Satan? 

“What  will  contribute  most  to  build  up  manhood  and 
womanhood?”  is  the  central  question.  The  answer  to  that  is  the 
true  education.  We  may  as  well  speak  our  thought  freely. 
What  is  called  “secular  education”  is  well  as  far  as  it  goes;  but 
it  doesn’t  go  far  enough  to  make  a great  people.  It  doesn’t  go 
far  enough  to  build  up  strong,  noble  men  and  women.  A college 
or  a university  that  can  go  no  farther  than  that,  had  better  resign 
its  charter,  and  hand  over  its  endowments  to  somebody  else  that 
will  do  the  work  as  it  ought  to  be  done. 

The  Bible  has  been  tabooed  in  the  common  school;  religious 
services  and  Christian  studies  have  been  made  elective  in  college; 
and  those  who  elect  chapel  prayers  and  Christian  Evidences  and 
Ethics  are  in  the  minority;  and  the  virtue  of  the  people  is  growing 
flabby.  It  is  time  to  call  a halt.  Let  our  colleges  and  our  univer- 
sities return  to  the  work  of  educating  full-grown  men;  men  that 
will  measure  large  in  morals;  men  who  never  make  merchandise 
of  principle;  men  who  buy  the  truth,  cost  what  it  may,  and  sell 
it  not,  whatever  price  may  be  offered. 

More  as  the  years  roll  by  are  we  to  reap  the  bitter  fruits  of 
our  sowing,  in  giving  way  to  the  clamor  for  “secular  education,” 
and  consenting  that  our  sons  and  daughters  should  act  the  play 
of  Hamlet,  with  the  part  of  Hamlet  omitted. 

“Righteousness  exalteth  a nation,”  and  nothing  else;  and 
from  the  first  day  in  the  common  school  to  the  last  in  college, 
God,  and  justice,  and  right,  and  duty,  and  personal  obligation 
and  individual  responsibilty,  and  eternal  destiny,  are  to  be  burned 
into  the  soul;  and  our  young  men  and  women  are  to  be  stalwart 
soldiers  in  God’s  great  host. 

Oberlin  has  done  well  in  years  gone  bjL  “ Made  virtute !'*  is 
the  greeting  of  her  sons  and  daughters,  who  have  gone  out  into 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


17 


the  great  battle-field  of  life.  Let  the  old  college  stand  by  its 
colors!  An  education  that  should  not  forget  the  body,  that 
should  give  harmony  to  the  intellect,  and  that  should  culminate 
in  moral  grandeur  and  spiritual  beauty,  was  the  ideal  of  forty 
years  ago.  I believe  it  is  yet.  And  the  world  is  groaning  in 
bondage  for  lack  of  just  such  an  education  to-day. 

The  second  prime  essential  to  a true  college  is  to  have  true 
men  in  its  Faculty;  men  having  the  true  conception  of  educa- 
tion, and  impersonating  their  own  ideal.  A teacher  teaches  even 
more  by  what  he  is,  than  by  what  he  s&ys.  And  more  depends 
upon  the  teacher  than  upon  anything  else — upon  all  things  else, 
outside  of  the  student  himself. 

The  college  at  Athens  400  years  before  Christ  was  one  of 
great  celebrity.  Its  buildings  were  not  much;  and  its  accommo- 
dations were  in  many  respects  inferior  in  quality,  and  limited  in 
extent.  The  President’s  house  is  the  only  building  that  is  yet 
pointed  out  to  travelers.  This,  if  tradition  correctly  identifies  it, 
was  a very  substantial  structure  of  stone,  of  two  rooms,  cut  out 
of  the  rock  on  the  hill-side.  It  had  one  door,  and  no  window. 
But  the  President  was  a great  man,  and  a great  teacher.  I have 
never  learned  that  there  was  anybody  else  in  the  Faculty  beside 
the  President.  So  the  Faculty  meetings  were  entirely  harmoni- 
ous, I take  it,  except  when  the  meeting  chanced  to  be  between 
the  President  and  his  wife,  Xanthippe.  Then  we  are  told  the 
meetings  were  sometimes  rather  inharmonious,  and  even  slightly 
stormy. 

But  the  President  was  a most  wonderful  old  man,  400  b.  c. 
(He  died,  you  remember,  the  next  year,  at  the  age  of  70.)  And 
they  didn’t  need  much  else  to  make  a college.  Socrates  was  him- 
self endowment  enough  for  one  of  fair  size. 

James  A.  Garfield  is  said  to  have  remarked  that  a bench  with 
President  Hopkins  on  one  end,  and  a student  on  the  other,  was 
enough  to  make  a good  sized  college;  and  I incline  to  think,  when 
that  student  was  James  A.  Garfield,  that  he  was  about  right. 

The  true  teacher  is  more  than  half  the  college,  and  the  student 
is  the  other  half.  And  if  Garfield's  remark  was  true,  one  could 
easily  believe  that  with  Socrates  on  the  one  end  of  the  bench  and 
his  three  renowned  pupils  Xenophon,  Euclid,  of  Megara,  and 


18 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


Plato,  there  was  a full-grown  college  at  Athens  in  these  days. 
And  if  the  President  was  not  very  handsome,  and  had  a salary 
uncomfortably  small,  and  if  his  wife’s  temper  had  been  spoiled 
because  her  husband  so  often  forgot  to  bring  home  the  beans  for 
the  porridge;  and  if  the  President  did  sometimes  go  barefooted 
through  the  streets  of  the  city  rather  than  go  in  debt  for  a pair 
of  ten-cent  sandals — despite  all  these  disabilities  I rather  think  you 
and  I would  have  been  proud  to  have  been  enrolled  among  his 
students,  and  to  have  transmitted  to  our  children  a diploma  with 
his  sign  manual  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  to  be  able  to  tell  to  the 
generations  following  about  our  classmates  Plato  and  Xenophon. 

And  when  in  time  his  immortal  pupil  whose  Phaedo  you  so 
enjoy  reading — you  seniors  I mean — when  he  became  the  faculty 
of  this  College  of  Athens,  with  Aristotle  in  turn  for  his  favorite 
pupil!  What  a renowned  faculty!  He  was  quite  competent  to 
fill  all  the  chairs!  Excuse  the  rhetoric:  I remember  that  he  didn’t 
have  any  chairs:  but  stood  up  and  walked  about,  except  when  he 
sat  on  the  garden  wall  or  on  the  ground.  What  tuition  would 
we  not  have  been  willing  to  pay  to  sit  under  the  dropping  of  the 
Attic  honey  which  fell  from  his  lips  as  he  discoursed  to  those  that 
gathered  ? 

That  College  was  not  open  to  women ; it  did  not  provide  so 
much  as  even  an  annex  for  the  girls;  but  it  is  related  that  not  a 
few  nevertheless  forced  their  way  into  it,  disguised  in  men's  attire. 
We  have  improved  upon  that  since  the  days  of  Plato. 

The  Teacher  is  the  main  factor  in  making  a college.  This 
implies,  of  course,  that  he  has  the  right  conception  of  his  busi- 
ness; that  he  understands  what  education  is — the  evolution  of 
character  chiefly — the  development  of  manhood  and  womanhood 
in  their  highest  power.  And  to  this  end  the  teacher  must  him- 
self be  what  he  would  have  the  pupil  become.  The  unconscious 
influence  of  his  personality  means  more  than  any  words  that  he 
can  speak.  A clear  head,  exact  knowledge,  mental  honesty,  apt- 
ness to  teach,  magnetic  power  to  transfuse  himself  into  those 
that  hear;  one  who  shall  dominate  the  disciple,  not  because  he 
suppresses  his  independence,  but  because  he  compels  his  confi- 
dence. 

And  I believe  I am  not  mistaken  in  saying  that  Oberlin  has 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


19 


been  richly  endowed  with  such  men  in  its  various  chairs  of 
instruction;  men  who  have  been  recognized  as  those  who  knew 
how  to  think;  men  loving  the  truth,  be  it  new  or  old,  more  than 
they  fostered  any  false  pride  of  self-consistency;  men  confessing 
their  ignorance  when  occasion  demanded,  and  so  much  the  more 
believed  in  when  they  announced  their  confident  beliefs,  or  their 
assured  knowledge;  men  whose  souls  were  illuminated  by  a divine 
light  that  shone  out  in  their  teaching  of  all  subjects,  because 
with  them  as  with  Luther,  tkto  have  prayed  well  was  to  have  stud- 
ied well;”  men  who  drank  of 

“Siloah’s  brook,  that  flowed 
Fast  by  the  oracle  of  God;” 

men  who  were  not  unready  to  accept  of  any  truth,  though  it  were 
not  in  the  catechism,  and  yet  who  were  never  carried  away  by 
any  wind  of  doctrine  simply  because  it  swept  from  a new  quarter 
of  the  heavens;  men  who  proved  all  things,  and  yet  held  fast 
only  to  that  which  was  good;  men  who,  with  all  their  ample  and 
exact  learning,  nevertheless  impressed  their  students  more  by 
what  they  were  than  by  all  they  knew.  The  names  of  the 
revered  and  honored  Finney,  and  Morgan,  and  Cowles,  and  Mead, 
and  Dascomb  and  others  who  have  gone  before,  will  occur  to  all 
who  knew  them;  but  I rejoice  that  not  all  who  have  sat  for  the 
portrait  I have  outlined,  are  among  the  dead.  Four  years  have 
not  passed  since  1 met  President  Mahan  beyond  the  sea,  approach- 
ing now  his  fourscore  years  and  ten,  and  yet  the  same  simple- 
hearted  learner,  and  the  same  devout  worshipper,  as  of  old.  I 
should  shock  the  modesty  of  some  who  are  present,  if  I should 
complete  my  list.  So  I forbear. 

The  third  prime  essential  for  a college  is  students.  Dr.  Hop- 
kins on  one  end  of  the  bench  would  be  a potential  college,  were 
there  nobody  on  the  other  end;  but  it  is  no  college  in  operation 
till  the  other  end  is  also  occupied. 

And  how  much  of  a college  there  shall  be  depends  upon  the 
character  and  calibre  and  uplifting  power  of  the  party  of  the  sec- 
ond part,  as  well  as  of  the  first.  Every  preacher  knows  that  his 
congregation  does  half  the  preaching;  and  that  sometimes  is  the 
reason  it  is  of  so  poor  quality.  And  every  teacher  knows  that 


20 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


his  teaching  and  lecturing  depend  largely  upon  those  who  occu- 
py the  seats  before  him. 

As  iron  sharpeneth  iron  so  the  countenance  of  the  pupil  his 
professor.  How  much  the  full  growth  of  Socrates  depended  upon 
such  pupils  as  Xenophon  and  Plato  and  Euclid,  of  Megara; 
how  much 'less  brilliant  Plato  would  have  been,  had  Aristotle 
never  sat  among  his  disciples,  the  world  will  never  know.  The 
action  and  reaction  of  teacher  and  learner  is  seen  in  the  larger 
growth  of  both. 

Oberlin  has  never  lacked  for  students.  I speak  not  now  of 
their  numbers;  but  of  their  quality  as  well.  Students,  keen,  pene- 
trating, stimulating  (sometimes  perhaps  exasperating);  students, 
whose  questionings  have  reached  the  center  of  things;  students, 
whose  appreciative  attention  has  struck  out  from  the  Professor’s 
brains  all  the  light  and  electricity  that  were  hidden  in  them. 

When  Hopkins  sits  on  one  end  of  the  bench  and  Garfield  on 
the  other,  the  President  feels  that  it  is  worth  his  while  to  be  at 
his  best.  When  Finney  sat  in  the  Professor’s  chair  and  the  Fair- 
childs and  the  Cochranes  occupied  the  benches  on  the  floor,  it 
was  no  time  for  even  our  Homer  to  nod. 

The  students  in  Oberlin  used  all  to  come  here:  I hear  it  said 
that  lately  a good  many  of  them  have  been  sent  here;  and  I partly 
believe  it.  Such,  as  a rule,  do  little  toward  making  a college. 

Hopkins  might  sit  on  one  end  of  the  bench;  but  with  even 
three  or  four  anthropoid  apes  hanging  from  the  other  end,  the 
college  would  scarcely  rise  to  the  dignity  of  even  a fourth-rate 
academy. 

These  three  things,  then,  are  the  prime  essentials  of  every 
college:  (1)  the  true  conception  of  education.  (2)  Teachers  grasp- 
ing it  and  embodying  it.  (3)  Students  to  receive  it. 

I call  these  prime  essentials;  because  wherever  there  is  a col- 
lege, in  any  country  or  climate,  these  three  must  be  found;  and  I 
cannot  think  of  a fourth  that  takes  equal  and  universal  rank. 

Buildings  and  library  and  apparatus  are  three  other  essen- 
tials to  which  we  must  therefore  give  a secondary  place. 

The  college  of  Athens,  400  b.  c.,  had  no  buildings.  They 
met  in  a grove,  in  a garden,  or  wherever  it  might  chance.  For  a 
long  time  they  had  no  apparatus;  the  heavens  and  the  earth  fur- 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


21 


nished  their  own  illustrations.  And  as  for  books,  when  they 
wanted  one  they  made  it.  Except  always  as  they  found 
1 ‘Tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 

Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  everything.  ” 

But  in  our  time  and  country  and  latitude  and  longitude  these 
last  three  are  about  as  essential  as  the  first  three.  Milton  could 
sing  of 

“The  olive  grove  of  Acadame, 

Plato’s  retirement,  where  the  Attic  bird 
Trills  her  thick-warbled  notes  the  summer  long,” 

but  when  the  bard  himself  went  to  college  it  was  in  rainy  Eng- 
land, and  in  moist  old  Cambridge,  where  he  was  very  glad  to  be 
sheltered  from  300  storms  a year,  within  the  walls  of  Christ 
College.  Even  when  Aristotle  presided  over  the  college  of  Athens 
he  collected  a cabinet,  by  no  means  of  small  extent  or  value,  and 
he  must  have  had  buildings  within  which  to  stow  it,  and  arrange 
it  for  use.  So  for  all  practical  purposes  buildings,  apparatus  and 
library  are  to-day  and  with  us  no  less  necessary  than  teachers  and 
students  to  constitute  a working  college. 

The  need  of  a larger  library  for  Oberlin  you  have  had  set 
forth  so  lately,  and  in  such  an  ample  and  impressive  way,  that  I 
need  take  but  little  time  to  speak  of  it.  Until  you  have  crowded 
your  beautiful  Spear  Hall  to  its  utmost  capacity,  you  will  have  no 
occasion  to  relax  your  zeal  in  that  regard.  And  I venture  to  pre- 
dict that  some  of  the  young  men  who  are  here  to-day  will  live  to 
see  another  building  of  equal  capacity  demanded  to  accommodate 
the  library  of  Oberlin  College,  forty  years  hende. 

Some  of  them,  perhaps  will  live  to  endow  the  library  with  a 
million  of  dollars;  not  by  bequest,  for  their  heirs  to  quarrel  over; 
but  while,  like  the  wise  donors  of  Warner  Hall,  and  Spear  Hall, 
and  Peters  Hall,  they  can  see  their  own  will  executed,  and  rejoice 
in  the  beneficent  administration  of  their  own  estate. 

And  in  the  way  of  apparatus,  what  do  you  not  need?  I am 
glad  for  the  instrument  that  you  are  to  place  in  the  tower  of 
Peters  Hall;  and  have  no  doubt  that  hundreds  of  students  will 
rejoice  for  what  they  will  be  able  now  to  see  through  this  glass 
darkly;  but  somebody  is  to  bethink  himself  and  hasten  to  seize 
the  opportunity,  ere  it  slip  away  from  him,  of  investing  $1,000,000 
in  an  astronomical  observatory,  and  instruments  worthy  of  it. 


22 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


So  I am  glad  of  the  apparatus  (by  no  means  contemptible), 
which  you  have  in  other  departments;  but  somebody  else — I can- 
not just  now  speak  his  name — is  to  build  you  a Laboratory  (or 
several  of  them)  worthy  of  this  great  company  of  students, 
wherein  they  can  study  Chemistry,  Botany,  Zoology  and  Biology, 
with  the  best  possible  advantages.  $100,000,  economically 
expended,  would  do  it. 

And  some  other  large-hearted  man,  with  a bank  account  cor- 
responding to  his  generous  impulses,  is  to  consecrate  half  a 
million,  more  or  less — I hope  it  may  not  be  less — to  the  establish- 
ment and  endowment  of  a Cabinet  and  Museum,  for  the  illustra- 
tion of  the  wonderful  works  of  God  as  they  are  seen  beneath  us 
and  around  us,  in  the  great  world  in  which  we  live. 

While  still  another — I may  as  well  make  my  dream  large  and 
complete  while  I am  about  it — is  to  come  back  one  of  these  days 
from  the  study  of  the  Art  Galleries  beyond  the  sea,  and  lie  awake 
of  nights,  meditating  that  ua  thing  of  beauty  is  a joy  forever,” 
and  thinking  how  he  can  set  some  architect  to  work,  planning  a 
<$75,000  fire-proof  building,  and  while  it  is  in  process  of  erection, 
how  he  can  send  some  competent  man  hither  and  thither  to  expend 
the  rest  of  a quarter  of  a million  in  furnishing  it ! 

Did  I ever  allow  myself  to  envy  anybody,  I should  almost 
envy  the  men  who  are  to  do  these  things  for  Oberlin  within  the 
next  50  years—  the  satisfaction  and  the  fame  and  the  “well-done” 
of  the  Master,  that  are  sure  to  come  to  them.  Sturges  Hall,  and 
Warner  Hall  and  Spear  Hall,  and  now  Peters  Hall,  Talcott  Cot- 
tage and  Baldwin  Cottage — all  these  are  the  prophecy  of  the  good 
time  coming,  as  well  as  the  proof  of  that  which  has  come  already. 

The  contrast  between  what  one  sees  in  Oberlin  to-day  and 
what  met  my  eyes  the  first  time  I entered  the  town  in  1840,  will 
abundantly  justify  the  visions  of  the  future.  To  my  own  faith 
and  hope  and  charity,  I should  only  do  simple  justice  by  striking 
out  50  years  and  inserting  30. 

For  a long  time  you  illustrated  in  your  growth  only  Arith- 
metical Progression;  latterly  you  have  been  working  in  Geomet- 
rical Progression — doubling  each  ten  years.  Practicing  under 
that  rule  it  will  not  take  even  thirty  years  to  make  good  the  ful- 
ness of  my  bright  vision. 


DEDICATION  OF  PETERS  HALL. 


23 


The  three  prime  essentials  of  a college  are  things  which  no 
gold  can  buy.  Men  inspired  to  teach,  possessed  of  the  grand 
conception  of  what  it  is  to  bring  out  of  human  souls  all  that  there 
is  in  them — and  students  inspired  to  respond  to  this  call,  and  to 
rise  up  in  the  dignity  of  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Most  High,  to 
be  crowned  kings  and  priests  unto  God — these  are  of  Heaven,  and 
not  of  men.  Brother  Peters  couldn’t  transmute  his  pine-trees  into 
either  teachers  or  students;  or  if  he  could,  they  wouldn’t  be  of 
the  kind  you  are  looking  for.  You  have  wooden  men  enough 
already,  I take  it,  in  this  Buckeye  State,  without  importing  any  of 
ours  from  Michigan. 

But  he  could  transmute  his  pine-trees  into  comely  walls  of 
brick  and  stone,  and  iron,  and  beautiful  woods;  and  there  they 
stand,  and  fire  and  cyclone  and  earthquake  excepted,  they  will 
still  be  standing  and  doing  good  service  when  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury shall  strike  its  midnight  hour.  The  highest  hopes  and  best 
prayers,  I am  sure,  of  those  whose  contributions  have  entered 
into  that  building  were,  and  are,  that  the  Trustees  and  Faculty  of 
the  college  may  so  be  guided  by  the  spirit  of  God  and  of  a sound 
mind,  that  these  brick  and  stone  may  be  instrumen tally  trans- 
figured into  educated  men  and  women  fit  for  the  crown  of 
Immanuel  when  He  shall  come  to  make  up  his  jewels. 


